The General Services Administration has pulled back a $583 million contract award for Military OneSource support services to review the potential impact of the winner’s acquisition during the procurement process.
In July, the General Services Administration, or GSA, awarded the contract to Cognosante, seemingly ending more than a decade of Military OneSource contracts with Carelon Behavioral Health.
However, Carelon and another unsuccessful bidder, Leidos, filed protests weeks later with the Government Accountability Office, or GAO, which adjudicates federal contracting disputes. Accenture Federal Services acquired Virginia-based Cognosante in May, a key issue in the contract review.
Military OneSource, a familiar resource to most service members and their families, is similar to a civilian employee assistance program, providing a wide range of information and referrals to military and civilian resources, as well as nonmedical counseling services, all at no cost. Benefits and services include financial counseling, educational assistance and benefits, relocation planning and quality-of-life programs. This central resource provides services 24/7 online, by phone, email, real-time messaging and, if requested, in-person counseling to about 4.7 million people.
GSA conducted the contract competition for the DOD’s Military Community and Family Policy Office.
Information wasn’t immediately available from defense officials or Carelon about any effects of the contract pullback on service members and families using Military OneSource. It’s also unclear whether the new contract will change any benefits offered to troops and families.
GAO dismissed the protests in early August after the General Services Administration advised the agency it was taking corrective action to address issues raised in them, according to Edward Goldstein, GAO’s managing associate general counsel for procurement law.
“Specifically, [GSA] advised that it was going to evaluate the impact of Accenture Federal Services’ acquisition of Cognosante, on Cognosante’s ability to perform the contract as proposed and, if necessary, reevaluate proposals and issue a new award determination,” Goldstein said.
“Because the agency was reconsidering the award to Cognosante, we dismissed the protests as academic,” he said.
New protests could be filed after the GSA has finalized its corrective action and the award decision, Goldstein added.
An Accenture Federal Services release described Cognosante as a provider of “digital transformation and cloud modernization solutions for federal health, defense, intelligence and civilian agencies.” Those include health care programs that support veterans, active-duty military, patients, beneficiaries, providers and payors. Among those agencies is the Defense Health Agency, according to Cognosante’s website.
The contract under reevaluation includes a one-year base period with four one-year options.
Tasks outlined in the contract solicitation include program management, call center operations and support, information technology operations management, child care support and counseling and coaching services.
In 2019, Carelon, then known as Beacon Health Options and ValueOptions, and its subsidiary, ValueOptions Federal Services, won the Military OneSource contract worth over $400 million.
Karen has covered military families, quality of life and consumer issues for Military Times for more than 30 years, and is co-author of a chapter on media coverage of military families in the book "A Battle Plan for Supporting Military Families." She previously worked for newspapers in Guam, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fla., and Athens, Ga.
